SHALL  ISLAM  RULE  AFRICA? 


BY 


LEMUEL  C.  BARNES,  Pastor. 


Newton  Centre,  Mass. 


PRINTED  FOR  THE 

BAPTIST  MINISTERS’  CONFERENCE, 
Boston,  Mass. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  following  paper  was  read  before  the  Baptist  Ministers’  Conference 
of  Boston  and  vicinity.  It  aroused  so  much  interest  that  a committee 
was  raised  at  once  to  secure  the  publication  of  the  paper  in  a pamphlet 
that  could  be  put  into  the  hands  of  all  students  for  the  ministry  and  of 
pastors  as  well.  It  was  believed  that  the  facts  herein  set  forth  should  be 
known  and  pondered  by  those  upon  whom  specially  rests  the  prosecution 
of  Christian  work  at  home  and  abroad.  It  was  felt,  also,  that  the  presen- 
tation of  the  real  nature  of  the  struggle  between  Christianity  and  the 
oppugnant  forces  of  Islamism  and  paganism,  would  stimulate  Christian 
men  to  deeper  thought  and  more  earnest  endeavor  in  the  present  crisis  of 
our  Congo  Mission.  The  duty  of  the  committee  has  been  simply  clerical. 
The  paper  speaks  for  itself.  Mr.  Barnes  is  alone  responsible  for  the 
statements  and  inferences  in  his  able  and  admirable  discussion,  a 
responsibility  which  he  cheerfully  accepts.  The  committee  desire  to 
express  their  high  appreciation  of  the  writer’s  earnestness,  candor,  and 
thorough  diligence  in  investigation,  and  heartily  commend  his  work  to 
the  candid  consideration  of  Christian  men  everywhere. 

PHILIP  S.  MOXOM, 

ROLAND  I).  GRANT, 

E.  F.  MERIUAM, 


Boston,  March,  1890. 


Committee. 


PRESS  OF  S.  Q ROBINSON,  20  PURCHASE  ST.,  BOSTON. 


SHALL  ISLAM  RULE  AFRICA  ? 


THE  Arabs  claim  to  be  the  heirs  of  Abraham  through 
Ishmael.  In  that  case,  the  two  religions  which  are 
most  widely  spread  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  are 
both  from  the  seed  of  the  “ Father  of  the  Faithful.” 

In  the  East  there  are  Muslims  not  only  in  Mongolia,  but 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  them  in  Southern  China 
itself.  The  two  regions  in  which  Islam  is  propagating 
itself  most  rapidly  at  present  by  peaceful  missionary 
methods,  are  the  province  of  Yunan  in  China,  and  the 
Western  projection  of  Africa,  one  hundred  and  ten  degrees 
apart  east  and  west.  In  a slightly  different  direction,  the 
geography  of  Islam  presents  by  far  the  longest  unbroken 
land  line  of  any  religion  on  the  globe,  over  six  thousand 
miles. 

It  is  doubtful  if  Islam  is  now  gaining  on  the  population  of 
India  as  fast  as  some  have  claimed.  But  further  south  i.i 
the  Malayan  archipelago,  Islam  is  making  rapid  strides, 
gaining  converts  from  Christian  as  well  as  heathen  popula- 


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tions.  In  1SS2  there  were  in  Java  10,913  Muslim  schools, 
with  164,667  pupils;  in  1SS5  there  were  16,760  schools, 
255,14s  pupils,  an  increase  in  three  years  of  not  less  than 
55  per  cent.  In  the  Malayan  peninsula  and  islands,  are 
thirty  million  Muslims,  sending  15,287  pilgrims  to  Mecca 
in  1886.  They  are  not  only  growing  in  numbers,  but  also 
in  religious  zeal.  The  milder  type  of  Islam  is  being 
replaced  by  the  more  rigid  and  aggressive. 

Four  thousand  years  ago  God  himself  said  to  Abraham  : 
“ Also  of  the  son  of  the  bondwoman  will  I make  a nation, 
because  he  is  thy  seed.  I will  make  him  a great  nation." 
But  of  the  son  of  the  freewoman,  He  said  : — “I  will  mul- 
tiply thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  heaven  and  as  the  sand  which 
is  upon  the  sea  shore ; and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed.”  “Which  things,”  Paul  said, 
“ contain  an  allegory.”  We  can  see  that  they  contain  also 
a literal  prediction.  For,  counting  nominal  adherents  in 
the  whole  world,  “more  are  the  children  of  the”  free- 
\yoman  twice  over,  than  the  children  of  the  bondwoman. 

But,  thus  far,  in  winning  the  great  races  of  mankind,  as 
races,  to  the  God  of  Abraham,  Ishmael  has  by  far  the  lead  of 
Isaac.  Leaving  out  in  both  cases  slight,  sporadic  scatter- 
ing, in  solid  ethnographic  distribution,  Islam  has  greatly 
surpassed  Christianity.  The  old  school  text  books,  follow- 
ing Blumenbach,  named  five  races  of  mankind,  Caucasian, 
Mongolian,  Malayan,  Negro  and  American.  For  centuries 
Islam  has  had  a large  following  in  each  of  these,  except  the 
American  Indian  — Christianity  in  only  one,  the  Caucasian. 
Of  the  more  recent  classifications  of  mankind,  perhaps  the 


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most  widely  current  is  into  Aryan,  Semitic,  Ilamitic  and 
Turanian.  Islam  has  great  blocks  of  population  in  all  four 
of  these,  Christianity  in  only  one.  And  the  southern 
branch  of  that  one,  even  the  Aryan  race,  in  one  of  its  two 
divisions,  the  Iranian,  belongs  wholly  to  Islam,  and  in  the 
other,  the  Asiatic  Indian,  far  more  to  Islam  than  to  Christ- 
ianity. 

This  Abrahamic  monotheism  of  such  unparalleled  propa- 
gating power,  deserves  more  considerate  attention  than  it 
often  gets  from  Christian  students.  It,  at  least,  is  not  fair 
to  base  our  notion  of  Islam  mainly  on  the  “ unspeakable 
Turk.”  Perhaps  the  unworthiest  work  Islam  has  ever  done 
for  mankind  has  been  in  Turkey.  From  Java  to  Siberia, 
from  Yunan  to  Liberia,  are  many  types  of  Islam  and  spheres 
of  influence. 

Whether  Africa  is  to  be,  as  some  one  has  said,  “ the  con- 
tinent of  the  twentieth  century  ” or  not,  it  is  likely  to  be  the 
continent  of  studious  attention  during  the  last  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  At  any  rate,  it  is  bound  to  be,  is  already 
beginning  to  be  the  arena  of  a desperate  struggle  between 
Islam  and  Christianity.  It  is  needful  to  take  a calm,  if  pos- 
sible unprejudiced,  view  of  the  situation.  Such  a view 
might  be  considered  a limited  study  in  applied  comparative 
religion ; very  limited,  because  the  field  is  so  large  that  a 
comprehensive  review  of  the  forces  can  be  made  only  by 
the  most  rapid  glance  at  — (i),  the  present  extent  of  the  two 
religions;  (2),  some  of  their  comparative  moral  aspects; 
(3),  their  radical  distinction;  and  (4),  the  special  condi- 
tions of  the  conflict  in  Africa. 


6 

I.  The  Present  Extent  of  Islam  and  Christianity 
in  Africa. 

The  distance  across  the  continent  is  the  same  north  and 
south  between  Tripolis  and  Cape  Town,  and  east  and  west 
between  Cape  Verde  and  Cape  Gardafui,  some  forty-six 
hundred  miles  each  way.  But  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  sweeps 
into  the  middle  of  the  continent  from  the  west  so  far  that 
it  is  only  about  twenty-three  hundred  miles  from  its  waters, 
on  a line  running  north  of  eastward  to  Massawah  the  port 
of  Abyssinia  on  the  Red  Sea,  which  has  recently  come  into 
possession  of  the  Italians.  By  such  a line  the  continent  is 
divided  into  two  nearly  equal  portions,  the  northern  or 
northwestern  with  its  longer  diameter  lying  east  and  west, 
and  the  southern  or  southeastern  with  its  longer  diameter 
lying  north  and  south.  It  is  as  if  the  continent  had  been 
girded  in,  half-in-two,  and  looped  on  to  Southern  Arabia. 
The  distance  from  Massawah  is  almost  exactly  the  same  to 
Cape  Verde  and  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  ?iorthern  half  of  the  continent  has,  in  fact,  been 
attached  to  the  Arabian  prophet ; all  its  roads  lead  to  Mecca. 
By  actual  count  it  sends  14,000  pilgrims  a year.  It  con- 
sists of  three  zones.  North  Africa  proper  is  best  known, 
and  longest  Islamized.  The  population  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean states  of  Africa,  as  given  in  the  Statesman’s  Year 
Book,  aggregates  18,123,846.  The  next  zone  is  the 
Sahara.  In  the  oases  of  this  vast  desert  region  there  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people,  according  to  the  German 
statistician  Hiibner,  2,500,000.  With  symbolic  fitness  Islam 
has  long  ruled  Sahara.  Below  that  the  Soudan  stretches 


7 

clear  across  the  continent  and  swarms  with  humanity. 
Iliibner  reckons  83,800,000  people  in  the  Soudan.  These 
three  zones,  which  contain  considerably  more  than  half  the 
population  of  the  continent,  are  thoroughly  Islamic. 

There  are  some  tribes  in  the  Soudan  yet  clinging  to 
paganism,  but  they  are  comparatively  insignificant  and 
are  fast  succumbing.  West  of  the  lower  Niger  is  a small 
region  yet  largely  pagan.  But  Islam  is  taking  pos- 
session of  it  far  more  rapidly  than  Christianity.  The 
city  of  Abeokuta,  exceeded  in  size  on  the  continent  only  by 
Alexandria  and  Cairo,  has  a few  hundred  Christians,  but 
thousands  of  Muslims.  But  sixty  miles  away  is  another 
city,  Ibadan,  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  population, 
more  largely  Muslim  than  Abeokuta.  These  towns  are 
less  than  one  hundred  miles  north  of  the  Guinea  coast. 
Even  the  English  coast  city,  Lagos,  occupied  by  some  of 
the  strongest  Christian  missionary  societies  in  the  world,  is 
becoming  Muslim  much  faster  than  Christian.  In  the 
twenty  years  between  1S65  and  1SS6  its  Muslim  population 
increased  from  twelve  hundred  to  thirty  thousand. 

The  whole  northern  half  of  Africa  is  as  thoroughly 
Islamic  as  Turkey  or  Persia,  if  not  more  so.  It  is  by  far 
the  largest  continuous  area  on  the  globe  under  Islam. 
There  are  more  Muslims  under  the  government  of  England 
in  India  than  under  any  other  single  government.  But  they 
are  only  a minor  fraction  of  the  population  there  ; while  in 
the  northern  half  of  Africa  they  are  the  bulk  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  are  more  numerous  than  in  India.  From  Tounis 
to  Youla,  two  thousand  miles  north  and  south,  from  Cape 


8 


Verde  to  Suakim,  three  thousand  six  hundred  west  to  east, 
millions  of  Muslims,  though  under  one  government,  are  all 
under  Muslim  governments,  and  are  in  one  conscious 
brotherhood  of  Islam.  The  number  is,  of  course,  variously 
estimated.  A low  estimate  is  fifty  millions.  Cardinal  Lavi- 
gerie  estimates  sixty-five  million  Muslims  for  all  Africa. 
If  the  great  authorities  are  correct  as  to  the  total  population 
of  the  northern  lobe  of  the  continent,  its  Muslim  popula- 
tion is  over,  rather  than  under,  seventy-five  millions. 

What  has  evangelical  Christianity  in  this  half  of  the 
continent?  Less  than  three  thousand  communicants  in 
Egypt.  Hardly  enough  to  number  in  North  Africa.  In 
West  Africa  are  reckoned  fifteen  thousand  Wesleyans  and 
ten  thousand  in  the  Church  of  England.  Putting  all  the 
items  of  a dozen  organizations  together,  35,777  communi- 
cants are  reckoned  in  the  northern  half  of  Africa.  That 
means  an  evangelical  following  of  less  than  two  hundred 
thousands  souls.  There  may  be  as  many  more  Romanists, 
making  less  than  half  a million  Western  Christians  in  all. 
Compare  that  with  more  than  fifty  million  Muslims. 

But  Islam  has  made  large  advances  also  in  the  southern 
half  of  the  continent.  Starting  from  Abyssinia,  the  eastern 
seaboard  is  in  the  hands  of  Islam  for  more  than  two  thou- 
sand miles,  reaching  inland  some  five  hundred  miles, 
much  of  the  way.  There  are  believed  to  be  five  millions 
and  a half  of  Muslims  in  that  territory  and  as  many  more  in 
the  same  and  adjacent  territories  who  are  more  or  less  under 
the  Islamic  influence.  Thus  Islam  is  the  prevailing  religion 
throughout  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  periphery  of  the  whole 


9 

continent.  In  the  remaining  third  there  are  two  regions  of 
active  Islamic  propagandism,  Mozambique  and  Cape  Col- 
ony. In  the  year  1SS0,  Cape  Colony  sent  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pilgrims  to  Mecca.  There  are  mosques  in  Cape  Town 
and  Port  Elizabeth,  and  some  proselytes  are  being  made. 
In  a population  of  only  six  hundred  thousand,  thirteen 
thousand  are  Muslims. 

From  Zanzibar,  Muslim  influence  extends  westward 
half-way  across  the  continent.  In  the  now  famous  kingdom 
of  Uganda,  north  of  Victoria  Lake,  Islam  has  much  of 
the  time  recently  held  the  upper  hand,  bringing  native 
Christians  to  the  stake  by  the  score,  and  even  an  English 
bishop  to  martyrdom.  IIow  far  the  Mhadists  are  at 
this  moment  in  sway  about  the  head  waters  of  the  Nile  is 
not  clearly  known.  They  are  certainly  in  possession  of 
the  former  Equatorial  Province.  But  whether  there  is  to 
be  an  effective  junction  of  these  Muslims  from  the  North 
and  their  brethren  from  the  East  Coast  or  not,  Stanley  has 
brought  Emin  and  the  last  representatives  of  Christendom 
from  the  upper  Nile.  For  eight  hundred  miles  south  of 
Uganda,  till  you  come  to  the  region  between  the  two  great 
lakes  Tanganyika  and  Nyassa,  Muslims  exert  a large 
influence.  Even  further  south  between  Lake  Nyassa  and 
the  Zambesi  river,  the  Maviti  natives  conduct  their  funerals 
with  Muslim  rites,  and  the  grave  is  always  turned  toward 
Mecca.  This  is  some  four  hundred  miles  in  the  interior, 
and  in  crossing  the  continent  from  north  to  south  is  much 
more  than  half  way  from  Massawah  to  Cape  Town.  But 
somewhat  northward,  twice  as  far  inland,  directly  west  of 


IO 


Zanzibar,  on  the  Upper  Congo  itself,  not  far  apart,  are 
two  Muslim  towns  of  some  ten  thousand  population  each, 
Nyangwe  and  Kasongo.  In  fact,  Muslims  hold  the 
country  for  three  hundred  miles  down  the  river  as  far  as 
Stanley  Falls.  In  one  of  Stanley’s  letters  written  since 
he  approached  the  East  Coast,  he  admits  that  when  he 
went  in,  three  years  ago,  he  did  not  believe  the  Congo  Free 
State  able  to  cope  with  Tippu  Tib,  or  even  hold  him  in 
check  except  by  a subsidy.  Developments  coming  to  light 
since,  make  it  more  evident  that  the  strongest  power  in  the 
whole  Congo  basin  at  this  moment  is  Muslim. 

Islam  has  reached  considerably  more  than  half  way  from 
the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  Atlantic.  Still  further  west, 
southward  on  the  water-parting  between  the  Congo  and  the 
Zambesi  basins,  some  of  the  Lunda  people  have  learned,  at 
least,  to  use  the  word  “ Allah  ” as  an  exclamation. 

But  without  reckoning  any  such,  or  other  millions  who 
are  actually  somewhat  under  the  influence  of  Islam,  it 
seems  to  be  within  bounds  to  count  five  million  Muslims 
south  of  Abyssinia. 

How  many  Christians  are  there  in  this  region  ? Without 
going  into  the  details  of  the  inquiry,  which  has  been  carefully 
made,  there  are  more  than  one  hundred  thousand,  probably 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  Protestant  communicants 
in  the  southern  wing  of  the  continent,  and  a Christian  popula- 
tion of  perhaps  seven  hundred  thousand,  thirty  thousand  of 
them  being  Romanists. 

The  territory  for  one  thousand  miles  northeast  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  reaching  some  five  hundred  miles 


inland,  is  substantially  Christian  and  Protestant.  The  two 
largest  religious  bodies,  however,  the  Dutch  Reformed  and 
the  Anglican,  are  to  a painful  degree,  in  the  bonds  of 
formalism.  The  Dutch  Boers  are  intensely  Protestant,  and 
highly  Calvinistic.  But  it  must  be  questioned  whether 
their  grasp  of  religion  is  not  more  Islamic  than  Christian. 
The  Portuguese  territories  of  Africa,  east  and  west,  present 
a thin  and  broken  strip  of  coast  under  Christian,  or  rather 
Romanist,  influence.  The  French  and  German  coasts 
present  still  thinner  strips,  barely  touched  with  Christ- 
ianity. 

In  a word,  the  northern  lobe  of  Africa  is  covered  by 
Islam,  with  mere  traces  of  paganism  and  touches  of  Christ- 
ianity. The  southern  wing  of  Africa  is  covered  by  pagan- 
ism with  a considerable  area  of  Islam  in  the  north,  and  a 
considerable  area  of  Christianity  in  the  south. 

Our  line  of  division  between  the  northern  lobe  and  the 
southern  wing  ran  through  Abyssinia.  Would  that 
Abyssinia  could  be  called  a Christian  oasis  in  the  surround- 
ing Sahara  of  Islam.  At  best  it  is  only  an  imposing  but 
barren  Gibraltar.  For  more  than  a millenium,  with  moun- 
tainous stability,  it  has  outweathered  the  tidal  waves  of' 
Islam,  which  have  sometimes  washed  clean  over  it,  notably 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  when  Islam  on  the 
eve  of  predominance  among  the  people,  was  forcibly 
crushed  back.  But  Christianity  there  became  simply 
mechanical  ages  ago.  It  is  as  stiff  as  the  volcanic  table- 
lands of  its  home,  which  were  once  in  flux  with  dynamic 
fire.  Likewise  the  relic  of  Coptic  Christianity  in  Egypt  is 


12 


nothing  but  a dried  mummy.  There  may  be  four  million 
monophysite  Christians  in  Africa,  but  so  far  as  shaping 
the  future  of  the  continent  is  concerned,  they  might  as  well 
be  reckoned  sarcophagites. 

The  ancient  and  populous  Christianity  of  Augustine  in 
North  Africa,  was  annihilated  by  Islam.  But  the  ancient 
Christianity  of  Origen,  further  east  and  south,  was  simply 
insulated.  The  little  force  it  had  at  the  time  has  been  all 
dissipated  in  the  surrounding  atmosphere. 

Such,  in  brief,  are  the  history  and  present  status  of  Islam 
and  Christianity  in  Africa.  Islam  has  rendered  void  the 
Christianity  that  once  reigned  from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules 
to  the  Indian  Ocean ; and  going  beyond,  has,  century  by 
century  pushed  its  way  across  the  Sahara,  throughout  the 
Soudan,  and  down  the  East  Coast,  until  more  than  half  the 
continent  is  in  its  grasp.  The  grasp  to-day  is  as  fresh, 
warm  and  greedy  as  ever. 

Why  has  Ishmael  so  outstripped  and  displaced  Isaac  in 
Africa?  Why  has  not  the  ideal  superiority  of  the  child  of 
larger  promise  been  realized  on  that  continent? 

II.  What  have  been  some  of  the  Great  Ele- 
ments of  the  Relative  Strength  and  Weak- 
ness of  Islam  and  Christianity  during  the 
Centuries  of  their  Parallel  History? 

i.  “ Blood  will  tell.”  Three-fourths  of  the  blood  of  the 
children  of  Ishmael  is  African  blood,  since  both  the  wife  and 
the  mother  of  Ishmael  were  Egyptians.  The  Nile  is  the 
ancestral  stream  of  the  children  of  Ishmael.  But  when  we 


remember  that  not  only  the  Nile,  but  also  the  Euphrates, 
the  ancestral  stream  of  the  children  of  Isaac,  and  afterwards 
the  home  of  Christian  Aryans,  has  long  been  a Muslim 
river,  we  are  compelled  to  look  beyond  heredity  and  race 
affinity  for  the  chief  elements  of  the  problem. 

It  is  a distinguishing  mark  of  human  kind  that  there  are 
forces  in  it  deeper  than  heredity.  Any  wide  view  of  history 
reveals  this.  Social  currents  have,  times  without  number, 
been  strong  enough  to  overrun  racial  currents.  In  religion, 
Christianity,  Islam  and  Buddhism  all  have  most  of  their 
adherents  outside  of  their  birth-races. 

Why  has  not  the  average  Christianity  of  Christendom  for 
the  last  twelve  hundred  years,  survived  in  Africa  in  place  of 
Islam  ? How  much  more  fit  to  survive  there,  has  the  average 
Christianity  of  Christendom  been  ? Mark  the  phrase  — 
“the  average  Christianity  of  Christendom.” 

2.  We  never  hear  anything  said  about  Islam  without 
hearing  of  its  sensualism.  Monogamy  is  a great  individual 
and  social  virtue,  which  Christianity  has  always  and  every- 
where advocated  in  distinction  from  Islam.  The  Utahs  and 
Oneidas  are  perhaps  not  numerous  or  important  enough  to 
compel  consideration  in  such  a statement.  One  is  obliged 
to  say,  however,  “always  and  everywhere  advocated,”  rather 
than  practiced.  If  all  the  facts  were  counted,  from  the  days 
of  the  first  church  in  Corinth  to  the  present  hour  in  the  so- 
called  highest  circles  of  English  society,  Christianity  would 
have  a dismal  and  difficult  record  for  Islam  to  match.  The 
claim  of  Muslims  is  possibly  just,  that  having  a larger  circle 
of  licit  relations,  they  have  a smaller  circle  of  illicit.  Their 


H 

standard  is  low,  more  Abrahamic  than  Pauline.  In  this 
respect  Islam  has  been  better  fitted  to  the  tastes  than  it  has 
to  the  needs  of  Africa. 

3.  As  to  the  allied  matter  of  the  dignity  of  woman, 
Christianity  has,  as  a whole,  shown  superiority  to  Islam, 
but  only  to  a degree  and  growingly  of  late.  Women  are 
still  harnessed,  it  is  said,  with  beasts  of  burden  in  Protest- 
ant Christian  lands,  and  but  fifty  years  or  so  ago,  Boston 
solemnly  concluded  that  it  was  not  best  to  give  any  girls  the 
advanced  education  of  a high  school,  because  it  would  be 
unsuitable  for  their  sphere  in  life.  But  the  average  tone  of 
Islam  has  been  still  nearer  to  African  ideas. 

4.  Again,  it  seems  clear  enough  to  us  that  Christianity 
favors  political  liberty , and  that  Islam  promotes  despotism. 
But  taking  the  centuries  together  in  Christendom,  what  has 
been  the  prevailing  form  of  government  from  Constantine 
to  the  present  Czar  of  Russia? 

5.  Again,  Islam  is  always  criticised  ( and  must  be 
justly),  for  propagating  religion  by  the  sword.  But  under 
the  same  head  come  the  Romish  Inquisition  and  the  Puri- 
tan’s lashing  of  the  flesh  from  the  back  of  Obadiah  Holmes 
in  Boston.  In  a comparison  on  this  point,  what  Muslim 
could  forget  the  Crusades,  in  which  the  so-called  Christians 
showed  at  least  their  full  share  of  inhumanity? 

Religious  and  political  motives  have  often  been  fearfully 
mixed.  From  the  days  of  Muhammed,  Muslims  have 
looked  for  a second  advent  in  righteousness,  when  the 
cimeter  should  hew  a pathway  for  the  Qur’an  throughout 
the  world.  The  latest  irruption  of  Muslim  adventists  or 


i5 

Mahdists  !s  one  of  the  greatest  which  has  ever  occurred, 
and  it  is  in  Africa.  It  has  gathered  sufficient  strength  to 
succesfully  defy  not  only  Egypt  but  England.  It  has  con- 
quered region  after  region,  till  it  holds  sway  over  a 
million  square  miles. 

One  cannot  read  the  long  letter  recently  sent  by  one  of 
its  Generals  to  Emin  Pasha,  without  believing  that  there  is 
an  honest  religious  element  of  great  strength  in  the  move- 
ment. Whole  paragraphs  of  the  letter  might  have  been 
copied  in  one  of  our  yesterday’s  sermons  without  sug- 
gesting plagiarism  from  a Muslim.  The  congregation 
might  only  have  thought  that  their  pastor  was  in  an 
unusually  earnest  and  tender  mood,  and  that  they  were,  in 
unwonted  measure,  being  spiritually  fed.  The  whole  docu- 
ment sounds  more  like  a homily  than  like  a summons  to 
surrender.  Take  a single  sentence  : 

“ So  now  we  have  come  in  three  steamers  and  in 
sandals  and  nuggers  [other  boats]  filled  with  soldiers  from 
God’s  army  under  our  orders,  sent  to  you  from  his  Mighti- 
ness the  Great  Chief  of  all  the  Muslims,  the  ever-victorious 
in  his  religion,  who  relies  on  God  the  Lord  of  the  world, 
the  Khalifa,  the  Mahdi  — may  God  be  gracious  unto  him  ! — 
with  his  sacred  orders,  which  are  the  orders  of  God  and 
His  Prophet,  and  it  is  your  duty  to  obey  them  by  reason  of 
their  religious  teaching , you  and  whoever  may  be  with 
you,  whether  Muslims,  Christians  or  others,  and  we  bring 
you  such  news  as  will  insure  your  welfare  in  this  world  and 
in  the  next,  and  to  tell  you  what  God  wishes,  He  and  His 
Prophet,  and  to  assure  you  of  a free  pardon,  to  you  and  to 
whomsoever  is  with  you,  and  protection  for  your  children 
and  property,  from  God  and  His  Prophet,  on  condition 
that  you  submit  to  God.” 


This  letter  just  received  and  published  in  England,  shows 
that  to-day,  as  of  old,  Islam  is  being  propagated  in  Africa 
by  the  military  as  well  as  by  the  missionary  methods.  But 
by  the  same  methods,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  Christ- 
ianity first  propagated  in  a large  part  of  Christendom. 

Central  Europe  was  converted  by  the  sword  to  Christi- 
anity as  truly  as  Central  Asia  or  Africa  has  been  to  Islam 
if  not  more  truly.  It  took  Charles  the  Great  thirty  years 
to  convert  the  Saxons  with  the  sword.  Islam  gives  three 
alternatives,  Islam,  tribute  or  the  sword.  Christianity 
give  but  two,  baptism  or  the  sword.  Recall  “ the  massacre 
of  the  Saxon  captives  at  Verden  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of 
four  thousand  five  hundred.”  It  was  not  Charles  only  who 
did  it,  or  the  Saxons  only  who  were  thus  evangelized,  but 
with  tribe  after  tribe,  and  nation  after  nation  the  work  went 
on  for  centuries.,  until  Teutons  and  Slavs  were  all  brought 
to  the  cross  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  In  the  thirteenth 
century,  after  years  of  military  subjugation  to  Christianity 
in  Prussia,  heathenism  took  an  opportunity  to  revolt,  and 
then  for  twenty-two  years  more  “ no  quarter  was  shown  to 
any  remnant  of  heathenism.  At  last,  bathed  in  blood, 
the  country  surrendered  an  undivided  allegiance  to  Christ- 
ianity, as  personified  by  the  Teutonic  Knights.” 

Everywhere  bayonet  religion  is  bad.  Still,  most  men  are 
likely  to  regard  it  as  a blessing  to  Europe  and  the  world, 
that  paganism  was  displaced  and  the  land  of  Luther  made 
Christian.  It  is  not  wholly  wild  to  think  that  military 
monotheism  may  be  better  for  Africa  than  anarchistic 
fetichism. 


6.  Treatment  of  native  races.  Again,  it  is  greatly  lo 
the  moral  detriment  of  Islam  that  it  regards  with  haughty 
contempt  and  treats  with  brutality  natives  who  refuse  the 
Qur’an.  But  the  Boers  of  South  Africa,  colonists  of  largely 
Huguenot  blood,  compelled  generations  ago  to  adopt  the 
language  of  their  Dutch  rulers  at  the  time,  and  amalga- 
mating with  them,  have  for  two  centuries  maintained  a 
rigid,  Calvinistic  Protestantism.  Multiplying  greatly, 
they  have  spread  over  vast  territories.  Everywhere  they 
have  carried  the  Bible  and  enthroned  it.  Often  it  has  been 
the  only  book  in  their  huge  wagon  trains,  and  is  even  yet 
almost  the  only  literature  which  the  bulk  of  them  know. 
But  for  two  hundred  years  they  have  ruthlessly  ridden  over 
every  right  of  the  natives.  They  have  seized  their  terri- 
tories, reduced  the  people  when  possible  to  serfdom,  when 
that  was  impossible  have  hunted  them  like  wild  beasts,  and 
literally  shot  them  on  sight  like  game.  They  have  not 
tried  to  bring  them  to  Christianity.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
in  Africa  or  elsewhere,  Muslims  have  ever  matched  these 
two  centuries  of  fierce  contempt  for  unconverted  aborigines. 

In  fact,  one  chief  advantage  which  Islam  has  in  Africa 
over  Christianity,  is  the  greater  spirit  of  fraternity  which  it 
shows  to  the  natives.  Even  our  most  zealous  evangelical 
missions  treat  them  as  inferior  beings  ; are,  in  fact,  organ- 
ized and  conducted  on  that  basis.  Our  Aryan  blood  recoils 
from  too  close  contact.  We  gladly,  with  unstinted  devo- 
tion, condescend,  but  cannot  fraternize.  The  Semitic  Arab, 
with  a large  strain  of  his  ancestral  blood  African  to  start 
with,  has  found  it  possible  to  identify  himself  with  Africans 


i8 

as  we  never  have.  As  soon  as  a Negro  is  Islamised,  every 
position  is  open  to  him  in  the  home,  in  the  mosque  and  in 
the  state,  not  in  theory  only,  but  in  free,  actual,  univer- 
sally accepted  fact.  In  India,  Africa,  and  everywhere  with 
Muslims,  there  is  but  one  caste  and  that  caste  is  Islam. 

7.  But  at  this  point  we  must  consider  the  heaviest  count 
against  Islam  in  Africa,  viz  : the  slave-trade.  Muslims 
have,  in  some  cases,  discouraged  the  conversion  of  natives 
to  Islam  because  they  could  no  longer  enslave  them.  The 
horrors  of  African  slave  catching,  driving  and  killing,  are 
undoubtedly  beyond  the  power  of  exaggeration.  Populous 
and  thriving  communities  are  every  year  being  blotted  out 
with  unspeakable  butcheries.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  has  made  every  slave  who  may 
be  brought  into  his  dominions  thereby  free,  and  every 
slave’s  child  born  there  from  January  1,  1890  onward  free, 
still,  in  the  interior,  Muslims  are  engaged  in  a desperate 
struggle  to  drive  out  the  English  and  Scotch  missionaries, 
who  obstruct  the  traffic.  All  this  has  a vital  bearing  on 
the  future.  But  it  has  not  much  weight  against  Islam  as 
compared  with  Christianity  in  the  past  history  of  Africa. 
For  centuries  the  most  Christian  and  liberty-loving  nations 
held  a monopoly  of  the  trade  on  the  West  Coast,  and  prose- 
cuted it  with  every  enormity. 

If  tribes  become  Muslims,  they  are  no  longer  subject  to 
slave  raids.  It  is  recorded  that  in  the  thirteenth  century  in 
Germany,  “within  the  territories  which”  the  knightly 
missionaries  “ commanded,  baptism  was  literally  the  soli- 
tary passport  to  freedom.  The  convert  might  indeed  call 


*9 

himself  a free  man  as  soon  as  the  baptismal  waters  ha  f 
bedewed  him,  without  further  impediment.  But  the  pagan, 
who,  fondly  clasping  his  ancient  idols  to  his  heart,  refused 
to  be  baptized,  was  a mere  item  among  his  master’s  goods 
and  chattels.” 

This  alternative  which  Christianity  gave  in  Europe  and 
which  Islam  still  gives  in  Africa,  Christianity  did  not  give 
in  Africa.  It  even  sometimes  professed  to  enslave  Negroes 
in  order  to  make  them  Christians. 

8.  We  considered  at  first  one  great  virtue  which  Christ- 
ianity has  always  advocated  in  contrast  with  Islam.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  one  great  virtue  which  Islam  has 
always  advocated  in  contrast  with  Christianity.  It  is  total 
abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks.  There  is  now  advo- 
cacy of  that  rule  among  many  Christians.  Among  some 
Muslims  there  is  said  to  be  relaxation  of  it  at  present.  But, 
taken  as  a whole,  Islam  has  been,  and  continues  to  be, 
grandly  abstinent  in  drink,  while  Christendom  has  been, 
and  continues  to  be,  terribly  intemperate.  In  Damascus 
drunkards  are  called  victims  of  the  “ English  disease.” 

It  is  quite  possible,  as  some  Christian  observers  on  the 
ground  think,  that  the  liquors  of  Christendom  are  to-day 
more  destructive  of  life  and  happiness  in  Africa  than  the 
Muslim  slave  traffic.  Muslims  have  recently  held  an  Anti- 
rum-trade Congress  at  Khartoum,  and  planned  stringent 
measures  to  exclude  it  from  the  whole  continent.  Looking 
at  Northern  Africa  alone,  it  looks  as  if  the  native  tribes 
would,  in  the  end,  be  absolutely  besotted  by  the  drink 
traffic  from  Christendom,  were  it  not  for  the  restraining 
hand  of  Islam. 


t 


20 

In  Southern  Africa,  however,  are  some  independent 
native  peoples  who  have  come  under  the  sway  of  an  evan- 
gelical Christianity  which  is  redeeming  them  from  alcohol, 
the  only  enemy  they  have  had  worse  than  the  Boers.  The 
capital  of  the  Bechuanna  Kingdom  of  Mangwatos,  was  till 
recently  Shoshong,  a city  of  twenty  thousand  people,  and 
probably  more  free  from  intemperance  than  any  city  of  its 
size  in  Europe  or  America.  The  penalty  enforced  by  the 
king  for  selling  liquor  in  the  Mangwato  Kingdom,  is,  for 
a European,  five  hundred  dollars ; and  for  a native, 
banishment. 

9.  Viewed  in  general  as  to  civilization , the  ancient 
Christian  civilization  of  North  Africa  was  doubtless 
supplanted  by  a lower  Muslim  civilization.  The  probability, 
however,  is  not  great  that  Christianity,  if  left  there,  would 
have  much  better  results  to  show  now  than  Islam  has.  The 
state  of  society  in  Abyssinia  cannot  be  ranked  above  that  in 
Muslim  countries.  There  is  practically  free  divorce;  lying 
is  a national  vice ; constant  war  and  plunder  are  the  occu- 
pation of  the  dominant  classes.  The  slight  abatement  from 
unlettered  ignorance  is  of  about  the  same  kind  as  that  among 
Muslims.  In  addition  to  a great  army  of  begging  monks, 
the  haughty  Abyssinians  are  as  a people,  beggars.  With 
some  of  them  it  is  even  the  custom  to  be  buried  with  one 
hand  projecting  from  the  grave  in  supplication  fora  gift. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Soudan,  about 
Lake  Tsad,  is  a Muslim  civilization  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Bornu,  higher,  if  anything,  than  that  of  Abyssinia.  Kuka, 
the  capital,  has  over  fifty  thousand  population,  shows  a 


variety  of  European  goods  in  its  markets,  possesses  a valu- 
able library,  and  is  a center  of  actual  culture.  Timbuctu 
has  a still  larger  library.  Kano,  in  the  great  Ilaussa 
Empire,  is  a walled  city  covering  ten  square  miles  within 
walls.  Within  the  past  twenty  years,  heathen  peoples  on 
the  Upper  Niger  have  been  converted  to  Islam,  and  trans- 
formed into  at  least  semi-civilized  nations.  It  is  true  that 
in  some  districts  they  are  first  persuaded  at  the  muzzle  of 
guns.  But  as  the  sword  of  Charlemagne  in  Germany  was 
immediately  followed  up  by  zealous  missionaries,  so  is  the 
sword  of  Islam  in  West  Africa.  Schools  are  planted,  the 
Qur’an  is  taught,  and  even  some  other  Arabic  literature, 
and  mosques  are  built.  The  most  significant  fact  is  that 
the  work,  both  of  the  sword  and  of  the  book,  is  done,  not 
by  Arabs,  but  by  West  Africans  themselves. 

io.  Devoutness.  In  some  districts  the  sword  stage  of 
the  process  is  omitted.  A Muslim  goes  into  a pagan  com- 
munity for  two  purposes,  to  trade  and  to  make  proselytes. 
His  superior  intelligence  and  cultivation  win  the  wonder 
and  then  the  following  of  his  fellow-blacks.  They  adopt 
the  religion  which  lias  done  so  much  for  him.  He  becomes 
the  medicine-man,  the  magnate  of  the  village.  The  old 
fetich  : — 

“ Eye  of  newt,  and  toe  of  frog, 

Wool  of  bat,  and  tongue  of  dog, 

Adder’s  fork,  and  blind  worm’s  sting, 

Lizard’s  leg,  and  owlet’s  wing. 

For  a charm  of  powerful  trouble,” 

is  replaced  by  some  texts  of  the  Qur’an.  Those  mysteri- 
ous Arabic  letters  have  a witchery  over  the  mind  more 


22 


literary,  if  not  more  spiritual  than  the  former  fetich.  But 
after  all,  they  do  learn  to  pray  to  the  God  of  Abraham,  and 
with  a devotion  as  earnest,  perhaps  as  intelligent  as  many 
of  Abraham’s  own  Bedouin  household. 

A glimpse  of  both  the  lower  and  the  higher  aspects  of 
West  African  Islam  is  given  in  the  March  Missionary 
Review  of  the  World,  just  at  hand.  It  is  a mere  paragraph 
translated  from  a French  Protestant  missionary  at  St.  Louis, 
a coast  town  just  north  of  the  westernmost  cape  of  the  con- 
tinent, under  French  control,  but  inhabited  principally  by 
Muslim  Negroes.  But  it  would  be  hard  to  find  in  half  a 
dozen  sentences  a more  graphic  and  widely  representative 
picture.  “ You  see  them  pass  in  the  streets,  furnished 
with  enormous  rosaries,  which  they  are  telling  in  a very 
absent-minded  manner.  Then  women,  babies  at  the  breast, 
all  are  loaded  with  gre-grees  ( amulets  ) , enclosing  fragments 
of  the  Qur’an,  which,  it  appears,  possess  marvellous  prop- 
erties. Then  when  the  hour  of  prayer  is  called,  at  the  cor- 
ners of  the  streets,  on  the  square,  and  chiefly  along  the 
river,  you  perceive  files  of  natives  bending  to  the  ground, 
like  a thicket  of  reeds  before  a breeze.  Take  care  not  to 
enter  one  of  their  shops  at  this  hour,  for,  in  the  very  middle 
of  your  purchases,  you  would  see  the  merchant  leave  his 
business  in  the  lurch  and  begin  his  interminable  genuflexions, 
your  objurations  not  being  of  the  slightest  avail.  You  needs 
must  summon  up  your  best  patience,  or  walk  off',  until  his 
salaam  is  at  an  end.” 

On  the  confines  of  Liberia  are  boys  but  sixteen  years  of 
age,  who  can  repeat  the  whole  Qur’an  from  memory.  It 


2 3 

would  be  hard  to  match  them  in  Bible-praising  Protestant 
Christendom  with  boys  who  know  even  a single  book  of 
the  Christian  Scriptures  thus. 

Islam  has  gone  to  the  Negroes  with  a simple  creed  and  a 
primitive  form  of  civilization,  vastly  above  the  aboriginal, 
but  not  so  high  or  complicated  as  to  seem  out  of  reach.  It 
has  evidently  had  elements  of  great  strength  in  Africa  in 
contrast  with  paganism,  even,  in  some  particulars,  in  com- 
parison with  nominal  Christianity. 

In  order  to  be  fully  fair,  it  has  been  necessary  to  take 
only  the  average  Christianity  of  Christendom  in  past 
centuries  compared  with  the  average  attainments  of  Islam. 

After  all,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  leave  the  subject  here,  for 
the  average  Christianity  of  Christendom  is  not,  strictly 
speaking,  Christianity  at  all.  The  majority  of  people  in 
Christendom  are  not  Christians  any  more  than  the  majority 
of  animals  are  men.  A few  observances,  for  the  most  part 
wholesome  observances,  make  a man  a good  Muslim.  If 
something  like  that,  only  of  a different  form  and  more  elab- 
orate, made  men  Christians,  would  it  be  worth  the  turn 
of  a thumb  to  put  Christianity  into  Africa  instead  of  Islam  ? 
III.  But  the  Radical  Difference  Between  Christ- 
ianity and  Islam  Remains  to  be  Considered. 

The  deepest,  most  significant  reality  about  a religion  is 
its  moral  content,  the  force  it  lays  hold  of  in  man,  the 
element  of  his  being  which  it  actuates  ; or  rather,  as  a cult 
is  worthy  of  the  name  of  religion  only  in  proportion  as  it 
lays  hold  of  the  will,  the  radical  fact  about  a religion  is 
the  way  in  which  it  grapples  with  the  human  will. 


24 

Perhaps  the  religions  we  are  considering  are  the  two 
highest.  At  any  rate  the  stress  of  both  is  at  the  will,  but  in 
radically  different  ways.  The  key-word  of  the  one  religion 
is  “ islam.”  The  key- word  of  the  other  religion  is  “ faith.” 
The  word  islam  means  submission,  — faith  means  reliance. 
Islam  is  resignation,  — faith  is  aspiration.  Islam  is  sur- 
render, — faith  is  laying  hold.  Islam  is  the  obedience  of 
fear,  — faith  is  the  obedience  of  love. 

There  is  no  such  characteristic  difference  between  Islam 
and  the  Faith,  so-called,  of  average  Christendom  from  the 
days  of  Muhammed  onward,  especially  in  the  regions  where 
they  have  stood  side  by  side  for  the  twelve  hundred  years. 
Oriental  Christianity  is  more  islamic  than  Islam  itself. 
Nor  does  the  characteristic  difference  exist  between  Islam 
and  Romanism.  The  ground  tone  of  the  two  is  the 
same ; the  difference  is  in  technique.  The  pyschologic 
intent  of  Muslims  and  Romanists  is  the  same,  the  difference 
being  in  phraseology.  The  contents  of  the  volition  are 
alike.  It  is  only  the  mechanism  of  thought  which  essen- 
tially differs.  Morally  there  is  no  contrast  worth  while. 
There  is  the  same  being  in  a different  dress.  In  a portion  of 
Protestantism',  not  small,  there  is  more  of  islam  than  of 
faith.  On  the  other  hand  Islam  has  not  been  altogether 
devoid  of  faith.  Along  the  frontiers  of  Islam’s  advance 
over  the  world,  there  has  generally  been  a decided  tinge  of 
faith,  and  so  of  power.  But  between  Islam  and  Faith, 
genuine  Islam  and  genuine  Faith,  Qur’anic  Islam  and  New 
Testament  Faith,  the  contrast  is  real  and  radical.  The  one 
is  prostration,  — the  other  is  confidence.  One  is  a compul- 
sion,— the  other  is  an  impulsion. 


25 

In  Islam  practical  religion  consists  of  live  observances : 
Creed  recital,  prayer,  fasting,  almsgiving  and  pilgrimage. 
Islam,  Romanism  and  Rationalism,  agree  on  the  method  of 
salvation  — do  duties,  and  trust  the  mercy  of  God  to  over- 
look deficiencies.  They  know  not  the  elixir  of  life,  the 
vitality  of  God  introduced  into  the  human  circulation.  To 
Islam  and  Rationalism,  God  on  the  cross  is  an  intolerable 
absurdity.  The  cross  in  Romanism  has  become  a mere 
magician’s  wand,  a stick  to  conjure  with.  Blood  injected, 
life  penetrating  life,  God’s  moral  force  reinforcing  man’s  — 
this  is  the  glad-tidings  which  Islam  has  refused,  Romanism 
has  lost,  and  Rationalism  is  too  unknowing  to  accept.  The 
latest  English  champion  of  Islam,  and  advocate  of  fusion 
between  Islam  and  Christianity,  admits  that  there  is  one 
point  of  so-far  hopeless  hostility,  namely,  the  cross.  The 
incarnation,  involving  the  crucifixion  and  the  present  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  the  abhorrence  of  Islam.  Islam  seems 
to  make  much  of  the  will  of  God,  and  does  of  an  external 
will  of  God.  But  its  thought  is  of  submission  to  the  will 
of  God  and  not  of  suffusion  with  the  will  of  God. 

This  root  difference  between  Islam  and  Faith  character- 
izes the  scriptures  of  the  two.  One  is  oracular,  the  other 
inspired.  The  one  is  supposed  to  have  been  created  in 
heaven  and  let  down  in  the  course  of  a few  years  to  one 
man,  as  finished  dicta.  The  other  is  believed  to  have  been 
divinely  breathed  through  human  souls  into  human  society, 
during  a millenium  and  a half  of  human  history. 

The  same  radical  difference  between  Islam  and  Faith,  is 
concrete  in  the  authors  of  the  two.  One  was  mastered  by 


2 6 

his  mission,  the  other  was  Master  of  His  mission.  One  was 
the  highest  offspring  of  heredity,  the  other  was  the  Pro- 
genitor of  a new  heredity.  One  was  a marvellous  resultant 
of  environment,  the  other  was  a fresh  initial  Force.  One 
was  the  consummate  flower  of  his  age,  the  other  was  the 
potential  Seed  of  ages  to  come.  The  one  struck  twelve  to 
start  with,  the  other  started  an  endless  progression.  The 
moments  of  the  loftiest  spiritual  power  Islam  has  ever  had, 
were  the  first,  before  the  prophet  fled  from  Mecca.  The 
moments  of  the  loftiest  spiritual  power  Christianity  has  yet 
had  are  the  present. 

Muhammed  tottered  and  finally  reeled  under  the  burden 
of  his  mission.  Christ  carried  the  awful  weight  of  His 
mission  as  if  He  had  been  accustomed  to  it  from  eternity. 
Muhammed  acted  as  if  the  Spirit  of  the  Almighty  had 
fallen  upon  a man.  Christ  acted  as  if  the  Spirit  of  the 
Almighty  had  entered  into  a man.  And  these  different 
states  are  exactly  what  each  claimed  for  himself. 

In  Islam  God  has  approached  and  borne  down  upon  man- 
kind. In  Faith  God  has  united  with  and  borne  mankind 
upward  with  Himself.  The  founders  of  the  two  religions  are 
not  regarded  by  their  most  devoted  followers  in  the  same 
light.  Islam  is  not,  does  not  call  itself,  and  does  not  wish 
to  be  called,  Muhammedanism.  Faith  is,  calls  itself,  and 
wishes  to  be  called,  Christianity. 

In  general  the  fruits  correspond  to  the  roots.  The  result 
of  Islam  is  stagnation,  — the  result  of  Faith  is  progres- 
sion. Islam  causes  atrophy,  — Faith  causes  develop- 

ment. There  is  one  refrain  on  the  lips  of  Muslims 


27 

always:  “There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Muhammed 

is  the  apostle  of  God.”  Their  thought  is  of  the  arbi- 
trary, fixed,  mechanical i three  characteristic  words  of 
Christianity,  are  “Faith,”  “Christ,”  “Life.”  They  speak 
of  that  which  is  dynamic. 

Islam  is  indefinitely  in  advance  of  fetichism,  but  its  ut- 
most development  is  easily  and  soon  reached.  From 
that  time  on,  there  is  a dead  level.  Wherever  faith  has 
been  revived  in  Christianity,  and  to  the  extent  of  its  revival, 
there  has  been  movement,  expansion,  growth.  Compare 
Egvpt,  Turkey  and  Persia  with  Germany,  England  and  the 
United  States. 

. IY.  There  are  some  Special  Conditions  of  the 
Conflict  between  Islam  and  Christianity  in 
Africa. 

Islam  is  the  only  great  religion  which  is  in  extended  geo- 
graphical contact  with  Christianity.  It  lies  between  Christ- 
endom and  the  other  great  teligious  territories  of  mankind. 
But  from  the  beginning  it  has  been  in  contact  with  the  most 
degenerate  forms  of  Christianity.  In  its  early  days  Islam 
gained  repeated,  wide,  and  permanent  victories  over  Christ- 
ianity, but  it  was  a Christianity  more  mechanical,  less 
dynamic  than  Islam.  It  was  at  the  fag-ends  of  Christianity, 
left  behind  in  the  onward  march  of  Christian  life  and 
power.  Evangelical  missionary  forces  sent  back  to  struggle 
with  Islam  in  the  Orient  have  to  be,  in  Muslim  thought, 
identified  with  an  established  type  of  Christianity  which  is 
manifestly  inferior  to  Islam. 


28 


But  the  forces  of  genuine  Christian  faith  are  to  be,  are 
already  being,  thrown  into  the  newly  opened  regions  of 
middle  Africa.  Toward  these  same  regions  Islam  has  long 
been  pushing  its  front.  Now,  after  twelve  hundred  years 
of  contact,  for  the  first  time  Islam  and  Faith  are  to  meet 
face  to  face  for  a trial  of  strength  on  a fair  field.  For  the 
first  time,  also,  it  is  to  be  purely  a trial  of  moral  strength. 
The  European  Powers  will  not  long  leave  Islam  to  propa- 
gate itself  by  gunj^owder  in  the  Great  Lakes  region.  The 
Congo  Free  State  is  already  guaranteed  religious  liberty. 
These  two  regions  span  the  continent.  If  Islam  moves 
further  southward  in  Africa,  it  will  be  because  it  has  moral 
power  for  conquest. 

Again,  the  conditions  are  altogether  different  here  from 
those  in  India  or  China,  where  Islam  and  Christianity  have 
to  contend  with  established,  highly  cultivated,  literary 
religions,  which  so  far  hold  their  own,  and  are  even  mak- 
ing more  converts  from  the  remaining  aboriginal  tribes, 
than  either  Islam  or  Christianity  are.  But  in  Central  Africa 
the  unlettered,  unorganized  fetichism  is  sure  to  yield,  and 
that  rapidly,, to  one  or  the  other  of  the  noble  monotheisms 
which  are  about  to  attack  it. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  aboriginal  races  are  sure  to  dis- 
appear before  higher  types.  But  history  shows  that  that  is 
not  the  actual  fiat  of  evolution.  There  is  an  alternative. 
They  may  be  annihilated.  But,  instead  of  that,  they  may 
assimilate  the  vital  principles  of  the  higher  type  and  survive. 

For  example,  though  often  asserted,  it  is  by  no  means 
proved  that  the  American  Indians  are  diminishing  in  num- 
bers. The  first  complete  census  of  aboriginal  Americans  is 


29 

to  be  taken  in  1S90.  There  are  some  facts  which  seem  to 
indicate  that  they  have  long  been  increasing  instead  of 
diminishing  in  numbers.  And  it  is  said  that  more  than  ten 
per  cent,  of  them  are  church  members.  At  any  rate,  of  the 
Indians  in  the  Indian  Territory,  a larger  proportion  are 
Protestant  church  members  than  of  the  population  of  New 
York  City  or  of  Boston.  The  red  aborigines  of  America  may 
yet  have  to  send  missionaries  of  pure  Christianity  to  the 
Caucasians  of  New  England.  In  the  Indian  Territory  one 
out  of  every  twelve  is  a member  of  a Baptist  church  ; in 
Massachusetts,  one  out  of  every  thirty-six.  The  Puritans, 
like  many  of  their  descendants,  thought  the  aborigines 
doomed  Canaanites.  The  first  Protestant  missionary  to  the 
Indians  was  Roger  Williams.  One  of  the  official  charges 
on  which  he  was  banished  from  Massachusetts,  was  his 
championship  of  Indian  rights.  To-day  baptized  Christians 
are  relatively  three  times  more  numerous  in  the  Indian  Ter- 
ritory than  in  Massachusetts. 

There  are  said  to  be  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
native  adherents  of  Christianity  south  of  the  Zambesi  river 
in  Africa.  But  that  is  about  one  in  ten  of  the  total  native 
population.  Some  districts  are  as  much  Christianized  as 
Europe,  and  the  aboriginal  population  is  multiplying. 

The  interest  of  the  competition  between  Islam  and  Christ- 
ianity in  Africa,  is  intensified  for  the  student  of  compara- 
tive religion,  by  the  fact  that  the  contest  has  now  reached  a 
point  where  it  begins  to  be  for  a new  race  of  men.  Islam 
has  captured  Nigritia ; but  there  is  much  land  in  Africa 
besides  Negroland. 


Some  phases  of  African  Ethnology  are  in  no  end  of  dis- 
pute. But  all  agree  that  south  of  the  Soudan,  or  land  of 
the  Blacks,  nearly  down  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  there 
are  many  tribes,  but  all  of  one  allied  race,  now  commonly 
called  the  Bantu  race.  Their  language  is  prefixional  in  its 
inflections,  and  very  elaborate  in  some  respects ; yet  so 
clear  that  it  is  generally  spoken  with  great  grammatical  accu- 
racy. The  Bantus  are  a far  nobler  type  of  men  than  the 
Negroes.  There  are  probably  seventy-five  millions  of 
them.  The  bulk  of  their  territory  is  in  the  region  of  more 
than  twenty  inches  of  rainfall,  i.  e.  in  the  region  of  natural 
cultivation.  The  Great  Lakes,  larger  than  our  North 
American  lakes,  the  Zambesi  river  and  the  Congo  river 
with  its  lately  discovered  immense  branches,  are  all  of 
them  already  navigated  by  steam.  The  interior  steam-nav- 
igation shore  line  is  longer  than  the  sea-coast  around  the 
entire  continent. 

The  Bantu  race  of  men,  so  situated,  is  the  prize  which 
now  lies  open  between  Islam  and  Faith  in  Africa.  Islam 
has  a considerable  following  in  the  northeast,  and  Christ- 
ianity perhaps  an  equal  following  in  the  south  among  the 
Bantu  people.  The  battle  is  now  set.  Which  is  likely  to 
win?  One  or  the  other  substantially  before  1950. 

Wealthy  Muslims  in  Constantinople  are  contributing 
money  to  push  Islam  in  this  territory.  Islam  has  a great 
school  of  its  prophets  already  planted  on  the  contested  conti- 
nent, which  can  supply  men  in  almost  unlimited  numbers. 
The  Muslim  school,  “ El  Azhar,”  in  Cairo,  is  as  old  as 
Oxford.  Its  principal  building,  “ Gamah  el  Azhar,”  or 


3i 

Splendid  Mosque,  covers  two  acres  of  ground,  and  is  sup- 
ported by  three  hundred  and  eighty  choice  columns  from 
ancient  Egyptian  temples  and  churches.  In  1SS2  one  of 
the  teachers  spoke  of  forty-five  thousand  students.  But 
according  to  the  lowest  estimates,  there  are  about  ten  thou- 
sand students.  The  Egyptian  Minister  of  Education  gave 
the  number  in  1872,  as  nine  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight.  In  1S75,  Georg  Ebers  gave  the  number  as  eleven 
thousand  one  hundred.  The  students  range  from  six  to 
fifty  years  of  age.  They  spend  from  five  to  fifteen  years  in 
the  school.  That  long  course  is  devoted  mostly  to  drill  in 
the  Qur’an,  its  commentaries,  and  Muslim  theology; 
although  law,  mathematics,  grammar,  syntax  and  rhetoric 
are  also  taught.  The  official  enumeration  gave  three  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  teachers.  Its  students  come  from  all 
parts  of  the  Muslim  world,  though  naturally  more  from  the 
contiguous  regions.  Suppose  that  only  one-half  of  the  ten 
thousand  students  remain  to  propagate  Islam  in  Africa; 
suppose  that  four-fifths  of  these  are  absorbed  in  the  northern 
lobe  of  the  continent.  Still,  if  it  chooses,  in  the  next  five 
or  ten  years,  Islam  will  have,  at  least,  a thousand  of  its 
best  trained  men  to  spare  for  mid-African  conquest. 
Protestant  Christendom  reports  exactly  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men  sent  thither  at  the  present  time,  with  ninety-five 
native  evangelists. 

But  Islam  does  not  depend  on  specially  trained  and 
employed  men.  Every  Muslim  is  a missionary.  When  we 
remember  that  Islam  has  not  to  be  imported  across  oceans, 
but  is  already  massive  in  that  continent,  and  that  it  has 


32 

advanced  its  front  lines  down  upon  the  central  regions  with 
unbroken  ranks  behind,  it  is  evident  that  Christianity  must 
soon  adopt  measures  of  unwonted  vigor  or  the  battle  will  be 
lost  in  mid-Africa,  as  it  was  long  ago  in  North  Africa,  and 
more  recently  in  the  Soudan. 

At  present  outlook,  on  the  thin  picket  line  of  Scotch  and 
Anglican  church  missionaries  in  the  Lake  regions,  and  of 
English  and  American  Baptist  missionaries  in  the  Congo 
region,  is  coming,  if  not  the  greatest,  one  of  the  most  sig- 
nificant religious  conflicts  of  the  world, — a conflict  for  a 
continent. 

The  bugle  of  God’s  providence  calls  to  immediate  action. 

Whether  Islam  is  to  be  the  religion  of  Africa  — the  rest 
of  Africa  — or  not,  depends  as  much  on  the  response  of  the 
young  business  men  and  students  who  are  members  of  our 
churches  at  the  present  hour  as  on  any  other  equal  number 
of  men  on  the  globe. 

Of  Isaac,  instead  of  Ishmael,  God’s  promise  still  holds, 
when  the  old  condition  is  fulfilled.  “ Thy  seed  shall  pos- 
sess the  gate  of  his  enemies ; and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the 
nations  of  J:he  earth  be  blessed,  because  thou  hast 
obeyed  My  voice.  ” 


